Airlines canceled most New York City-area flights scheduled for Monday ahead of a strong winter storm that’s expected to bring high winds and heavy snow to the region. Local officials also urged people to stay off roads. Flight schedules were already drastically lower than the norm because of the Covid-19 pandemic and a host of travel restrictions. LaGuardia Airport midmorning said all commercial flights were suspended, while public transportation to John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport was disrupted and most afternoon flights were canceled. More than 70% the departures scheduled from Kennedy Airport, or 151 flights, have been canceled as have 90%, or 106 flights from LaGuardia Airport, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking site. More than 70% of the departures, 162 flights, from United Airlines hub at Newark were also canceled. A snowstorm canceled about a quarter of departures from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday. American Airlines on Monday afternoon said it canceled flights for the rest of the day at LaGuardia, Kennedy, Newark, Boston, Providence and that operations will be limited at those airports on Tuesday. American said operations were scaled back at its Philadelphia hub on Monday.<br/>
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Unions and trade groups are seeking at least $111.3b in additional government assistance to rescue the struggling US transportation sector hit hard by the collapse in travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Reuters review of funding requests. The groups seek: $39.3b in emergency funding for public transit systems sought by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and several transportation unions; $40b for US motorcoach, school bus and passenger vessel and ferry companies; $15b sought by aviation unions to keep airline employees in their jobs after March 30, when the latest government assistance package expires; and $17b sought by Airports Council International–North America and the American Association of Airport Executives in a previously unreported Jan. 13 letter to help “pay for debt service on their bonds, (and) keep their critical health, safety, and security projects on track.” Congress has approved $39b since March 2020 to aid transit systems, including $14b in December. It awarded $40b to date in payroll assistance for US airlines, $12b for airports and airport concessionaires and $2b for bus and vessel industries.<br/>
As Canada's airlines suspend flights to Mexico and the Caribbean, US carriers including Delta and American Airlines say they have no plans to stop offering service to sun destinations, raising questions about both the business fallout for domestic airlines and the measure's effectiveness for slowing the spread of COVID-19. Canadian airlines have already been losing market share over the last several months to foreign carriers, said Mike McNaney, president and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada. Now, however, the only routes available to certain destinations will be aboard foreign airlines selling flights with stopovers in US cities. "We assume the government is also engaging foreign operators on this issue to ensure we are all taking the same concerted approach," McNaney said. Canadians flying out of major cities will still be able to book trips to Mexico and the Caribbean as normal, provided they are willing to stop over at another airport. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Canadian airlines had agreed to suspend flights to Mexico and the Caribbean until April 30, in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Canada. <br/>
French border police turned away some passengers bound for non-EU destinations Monday as new rules came into force banning flights to and from countries outside the bloc. PM Jean Castex announced the measure Friday as part of new efforts to contain Covid-19 infections and avoid another nationwide lockdown. Travellers must also present proof of a recent negative Covid test. Only urgent reasons for travel are accepted and border police require written proof before allowing passengers to board. Valid reasons for "urgent" travel include documented serious health conditions, the needs of dependents, professional emergencies or passengers' returning to their country of residence. By curbing international travel, the government hopes to get a better grip on the circulation of the coronavirus and its recent variants, which have been spreading at a fearsome pace. "The idea is to limit the outbound-inbound loops between France and abroad," said Julien Gentile, head of the border police for the Roissy and Le Bourget airports. Passengers must first show the required documentation at airline counters during check-in, but some carriers have already fallen foul of the authorities for failing to stop passengers without a Covid test. "If airlines fail to meet the requirement in terms of health checks, there could be sanctions," a transport ministry spokesman said.<br/>
IDA CE Martin Shanahan has expressed concern that restrictions on Dublin Airport’s new E320m runway could hinder foreign direct investment (FDI) growth here. The IDA submission is part of a surge of submissions lodged with Fingal County Council on the runway issue, with some of the worlds’s largest airlines registering their support for DAA’s application to have two planning restrictions on the 2007 permission for the north runway lifted. Some 13 carriers, including Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Qatar Air, AirFrance/KLM, Emirates, Etihad Air, Stobart Air and Ireland’s newest airline, Emerald Airlines, have written to the council to support DAA’s application. The planning conditions specify that the runway will not be used at night between 11pm and 7am and that night-time operations not exceed 65 flights on average when it is complete. The runway is expected to be operational next year and DAA is seeking that the new 3.1km runway be used between 6am and midnight and that a noise quota system, which applies at airports such as Heathrow, Brussels and Madrid would be used to dictate the number of night-time flights. Fingal County Council had received 161 submissions by mid-afternoon on Monday, the closing date for parties to contact it on the matter. Shanahan warned that the operating restrictions could “reduce economic capacity and hinder growth in FDI by unduly restricting a key infrastructure asset”.<br/>
India’s finance minister on Monday proposed tax benefits for foreign aircraft lessors, as one of the world’s fastest-growing domestic aviation markets looks to establish a local leasing industry. Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech proposed a tax holiday for aircraft-leasing companies and tax exemptions for airlines paying lease rentals to foreign lessors if they choose to be based in the country’s upcoming international finance hub. India is developing an offshore finance hub called Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City to attract foreign investors with close to zero tax, and top-notch infrastructure in an effort to compete with Hong Kong and Singapore. India’s air travel market is dominated by budget airlines that have hundreds of new planes on order from Airbus and Boeing. The planes are typically bought on sale and leaseback arrangements with lessors that are based in tax-efficient jurisdictions like Ireland, which exposes domestic airlines to foreign currency fluctuations. China is also a major player in the multi-billion dollar aircraft leasing industry. The plan to set up a local aircraft leasing industry was first announced in 2019, but progress has been slow, said Sachit Jolly, partner at Indian law firm DMD Advocates. “This should encourage leasing companies to set up shop, but this lackadaisical attitude of not even notifying regulations for two years should give way to a more proactive approach to make GIFT City and the aircraft-leasing business competitive,” he said.<br/>
Despite an unprecedented number of pilots currently being furloughed throughout the world and several airlines reporting losses or shutting down operations, industry experts agree a pilot shortage will still loom as the industry prepares for long-term air travel recovery from the pandemic. More than 600,000 pilots will be needed in the next two decades. “We were deep into a pilot shortage pre-Covid, meaning that the second a pilot was qualified, they were being hired by an airline,” said Kenneth Byrnes, associate dean and chairman of flight at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. While that’s no longer the case with the current state of the industry, experts and industry trade groups warn the pandemic has only put a pause on a shortage, that it hasn’t gone away with more pilots nearing the age of retirement and because of a continuing undersupply of new pilots. Already during the first half of 2020, 50% of the pilot workforce was positioned to reach the mandatory stopping point — retirement — within 15 years, said Faye Malarkey Black, president and CEO of the Regional Airlines Association (RAA). Within the half of that workforce, 15% must retire in five years “The pandemic has just temporarily made the issue seem like it isn’t an issue anymore,” said Women in Aviation CEO Allison McKay. But she added that when air travel goes back to 2019 levels, maybe in three to four years, the shortages will be just as severe. “The pandemic has caused the airlines to offer retirement to that older group of pilots, so when we go back to say, 2019 levels I think that by all accounts, the shortage could even be more urgent.”<br/>
Boeing signaled it’s at risk of losing more than a third of its 777X order haul because the latest delay to the behemoth jet’s debut -- now slated for late 2023 -- gives some customers the right to walk away from sales contracts. The US planemaker lowered the backlog for the 777X family to just 191 jets in a regulatory filing on Monday, or 38% fewer than the firm orders listed on the company’s website. The reason for the drop is an accounting standard that requires sales at risk of falling through to be removed, the company said in an email. The falling tally underscores the precarious future of Boeing’s newest jetliner, which is heir to the 747 jumbo as the largest passenger plane in the company’s product lineup. The coronavirus pandemic has crushed demand for twin-aisle aircraft built to cruise across oceans, and orders for wide-body jets such as the 777X, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and competing Airbus models are expected to be the last to recover from the slump. Boeing announced a $6.5b charge for the 777X when it reported Q4 earnings last week and said the latest delay would leave the plane’s debut three years behind its original schedule. Cancellations, production cuts and flight-testing risks could bring additional losses, the company warned in its annual financial filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.<br/>
Airbus is reassessing its employees work week in its site in Flintshire in an attempt to save jobs, as the company swims against the tide of coronavirus-related airline groundings. A ballot of up to 3,500 members of the Unite union voted in favour of a working hours cut for employees at the Welsh plant. The site employs 6,000 people and it is thought that between 350 and 400 jobs were under threat before the action. The BBC reported that it is hoped the reduction in working hours could help avoid compulsory redundancies and that it could mean a 10% reduction in hours. In a regular five-day working week, this would cut around half a day of work. Broughton Head of Plant, Jerome Blandin, said: “We are delighted the Trade Union members have supported a proposal which was rooted in helping save jobs at the Plant. The shorter working week increases our flexibility and will help us manage the downturn in demand we are facing. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the TU on the implementation of the new working arrangements at the appropriate time.”<br/>
Wheels Up, which sells flights on private jets, is set to become the first operator of business aircraft to trade publicly, enabling investors to bet on an industry showing signs of a rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. An agreement to merge with a special purpose acquisition company called Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle Corp. is expected to close in Q2, Wheels Up said Monday. The transaction valued Wheels Up at $2.1b and provides the company with as much as $790m in gross proceeds as it pursues its goal of “democratizing” private aviation. “If it’s as easy to order up a plane from Wheels Up as it is to order an Uber or book an Airbnb, that’s really what the strategic forward vision for the business is,” said Kenny Dichter, who founded the company in 2013. The deal offers shareholders exposure to an industry that is recovering more quickly than commercial flying from the plunge in travel demand caused by Covid-19. Business-jet operations in the US fell only 13% in December from a year earlier, paring a decline of as much as 75% in April. Domestic passenger totals at US airlines have been down 65% in recent months except for an uptick during the holidays. <br/>